The Russellville Democrat., 1887-06-15
He smiled. wearilv.


 '.Do |? And what are you doing, Clarice? Still sewing for those hard ened little wretches2@
 ''Yes; isn't this a big hole lam darn ingp Boys do wear out their clothes so fast You are home early from the office
 .'Yes, had an engagement at three o'clock and did not care to go back. May I come in and have chat with youPn
 70. yes, if you care to-" with her quick smile, smile which her eyes be- lied. and which always seemed to John made to order" She pulled forward a chair without rising, and went on with her darning again. ''l sit in here because it's cool. and l always do my sewing afternoons; in the mornings there is housework. v
 It was shabby little parlor, seldom used by the boarders, who were prin- cipally gentlemen, and spent their evenings out, if not in their own rooms. A few tawdry decorations only en- hanced the shabbiness of the thread bare carpet, dirty walls and ancient lace curtains.
 ''Do youneve have any amusements, Clarice?n asked John, trying to forget his own wretchednees by interesting himself in some one else.
 "Amusements, she repeated, push ing the curls of her forehead in a pug zled way 70, yes; there is MT. Jones; he plays the piano; and once MT. Aikens, the. the elocution teacher, read piece, and all the boarders came in ''
 John smiled, eyeing the little maiden pityingly as she stitched away. She looked up suddenly and caught his eye.
 We did not always keep boarders, !" she said, proudly, reading something there she did not like. When l was at school we were well of and had a nice house; but mamma is widow with. eight children, you know, and l have to help her about the work.
 "I know, said John, kindly, looking at little Clarice with so much sympa- thy that she quite warmed toward him, and continued confdentially:
 ..Once 1 had beautiful time--that was good while ago-a girl I knew at school hunted me up, wrote to me and invited me to see her. It was in Phila- delphia. 1"
 And did you gop"
 .Ah, yes, and it was a beautiful time!' Then. her face falling, but had to come home. It was all over in three months"
 .'Ah, that was hard" sympathetic ally.
 "Yes. it was, Mir. Rogers" taking up another jacket and beginning on a new hole. ''For they were rich, you know, and it was quite like old times their nice house and all-and then to come back here-the noise and the children, and clearing up the rooms it seemed worse after that. But per haps I shouldn't have minded it if it hadn't been for-there was something worse than all that, continued Clarice, working hard at the jacket with crimson cheeks.
 "Will you tell me about itp" asked John Rogers, very kindly, his honest gray eyes softening. "It does one good sometimes to tell one's troubles, and l am so much older than you.
 Clarice looked up, quite gratified at this unexpected sympathy.
 ''I will tell you, MT. Rogers. It was when I was in Philadelphia that met Harris Harris Bell-and was-so different there, at the parties l went to with Fannie, that he thought 1 was pretty, and told me so, and said that he loved me and wanted me to be his wife. had pretty white dress, you know" timidly, and glancing blush ingly down at her present faded calico, .'and wore flowers -and-you can scarcely understand it."
 "Yes, l can understand it." said John, noting the light in the brown eyes and the newly acquired color. Tell me the rest, Clarice.
 And we Were engaged--and could scarcely believe it-but l was very happy. He was such a handsome gen tleman too, and so aI.istocratic, and did not mind the boarders; or any thing when 1 thought about Harris. So at last he came here to see me; and he saw mamma and the children, the house and the boarders. and l can't
 
 tell you how it was, but-he was differ ent He didn't tell me he was changed, but he was restless, and itworried him, and saw he cared 1 am proud, Mir. Rogers, though We are poor now, and broke it all up. It wasn't the love had dreamed of 1 had read a great many novels, and l thought life was a fairy tale, and love was beautiful. l always used to think: When some one comes to love me I'll never be sad or vexed any more; and Harris seemed to me to be all had wished for unel l saw the house and the boarders fretted him. For had dreamed of love that would be out of the common, and that when l went away with my lover thought I, too, would bo better, just as he wished me to be. So told him, Mir Rogers, it was all over, and he said perhaps we were not fitted to make each other happy. And then he went away. and the work and the noise and and the boardcrs fretted me as they had never done before. For somehow, although could not lo~e him as much for treating me so, the thoughts about him and the dreams about him were all gone-and missed them so.
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